Ms Gemcity
by briwd
Summary: Tim McGee has been working through a major life change separately, and secretly, from his job and colleagues at NCIS. But when Tony and Kate break into McGee's apartment - and learn something completely unexpected about their 'probie' - McGee's secret will come out into the open. AU NCIS Season 2. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

**A church in Georgetown, D.C.**

Tim held the candle, as the names were read. The service was sobering, yet strangely moving.

He felt at home among the others gathered in the large, gothic church building; he thought Abby might love the ambiance.

Then he thought Abby might understand what he was going through...and thought better of it.

To anyone who knew him as Tim McGee, he was unrecognizable as, well, himself. Thankfully, he had the wholehearted support of his sister, Sarah, who helped him get ready for tonight. She listened patiently as he explained himself over the past few years; comforted him as he struggled with one issue after another; held his hand as they went, together, to the mall; and encouraged him in taking baby steps forward.

Being here in the church, in public, was like Neil Armstrong taking his giant leap on the lunar surface.

"Hon," Sarah whispered, "why are you nervous? Everyone says you look great. You're doing so well."

"Yeah, thanks," he said, practicing his new voice. "It's...it's just that..." Tim's voice trailed off.

"Just what?"

"I half expect...to get caught...Gibbs sitting on the back row. Ducky, at my counselor's. Tony going through my closet."

Sarah stifled a laugh, catching a look from her sibling. "Sweetie, they're NOT going to know. Relax...you're among friends."

Tim took a large breath, then exhaled. "You're right," he admitted, and hoped. "I'm fine."

"Yes you _are_!" Sarah said, excitedly. "Just wait till we get to the dance floor. You're going to have a blast."

McGee sat back, listening to the speaker, and put aside his lingering fears. He finally allowed himself to just be...

...herself.

**McGee's apartment**

"Why are we doing this now, Tony?" said Kate, as she turned on the light in McGee's kitchen - and began snooping around.

"Because my date cancelled on me," replied Tony, looking over the manual typewriter on the table closely. "And because Dad called me. Said he's coming into town in the morning. Wants to meet for breakfast."

"Your dad?" she replied. "The one you hate?"

"He's the only one I've got, and I don't hate him, Kate," Tony said. "I don't see eye-to...whoa!" Tony picked up a stack of paper. "Kate. Get over here. Get a load of this."

He looked up and saw Kate making her way into McGee's bedroom.

"Kate! Come here...Probie's writing a freakin' novel! _'DEEP SIX: THE CONTINUING ADVENTURES OF L.J. TIBBS'_...holy crap!"

Tony read through the manuscript, focusing on the pages with character bios.

"Mae Codd...Amy Sutton...agent Tommy...L.J. Tibbs...and some guy, Agent McGregor, who's got two pages to himself...hey, waitaminute...Kate."

Tony mumbled to himself, reading the bios, before realizing the real-life people they reminded him of.

The team.

"KATE!" Tony said, holding up the manuscript and looking around for his partner. "Probie's writing a novel! With us! As characters! Kate...Kate!"

Not hearing a response, his guard shot up, and he pulled out his weapon. _Has Ari come back? Followed us here? _

"OH MY GOD!"

_That's good. She's here,_ he thought while determining where she was at in the apartment.

"TONY! Get in here...oh god"

"Where are you?"

"McGee's bedroom."

Tony ran in, wondering what in hell Kate had found. _Did something happen to Probie?_

He entered the bedroom, seeing nothing out of the ordinary...initially.

"Kate?" Tony slowly put his service revolver back in its holster. "What the hell?"

"Come here," Kate said as she hurried over to him, grabbing him by the arm, and dragging him to the closet. She then showed him what was in the closet.

Tony began laughing, and grinning, before a well-placed elbow to his stomach snapped him back into the moment.

"What was that for?" he whined, before noting her expression. Annoyance, concern...fear? Over what? It's obvious what this is Probie's got a girlfriend.

"It's a closet, full of women's clothing," Tony said. "Probie has himself a girlfriend. And he's hiding her from us."

"He's not hiding a girlfriend," Kate continued. "Look."

She stepped into the closet, and pulled out a couple of mannequin heads, with wigs. And pulled out a few other items that she pointedly said would not be used by a woman.

And, Tony's jaw fell open, as he realized just what was going on.

"Damn," was all he could whisper.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony put his hand on his head, then threw it down as he stormed out of the bedroom into the living room.

Kate threw her hands up, mouthed "what the hell?" then turned back to the closet. She looked in every drawer, and at every item of clothing - male and female,- as well as his makeup drawer and items in the bathroom.

Of all the things that could have surprised them, only McGee betraying the team to join with Ari could top THIS.

"Tony, where are you?" Kate said, as she walked out of the bedroom, into the living room, then saw him standing in the kitchenette area. "He's put a lot of time...money...thought into...whatever he's doing."

DiNozzo acknowledged her, then opened a box of the Cookie Crisp cereal he found in a cupboard. Tony feigned spilling its contents on the counter, then on the floor.

"Tony? What in hell are you doing?" she said, unsure of what he was doing, or thinking.

"Let Probie know we were here," Tony said, before putting the box on the counter, then reaching in and grabbing a handful of Cookie Crisp to munch on.

"No, that'll make him think someone was here, someone broke into his apartment," Kate replied. "He won't know it was us."

Tony stared at his fellow agent. "Kate, he'll already know someone was here."

"Ohmigod, you're right," she replied. "Tony, put the cereal back where you found it. And those papers of his, stack them neatly." She saw him munching on dry cereal, then took it on herself to walk over and rearrange the stack of typewritten sheets, the first 40 pages of his manuscript. "When I finish here, Tony, you take the bathroom. I'll go into his...closet...and put things back the way I found them-"

She felt Tony firmly grab her bicep, pulling her away from that typewriter and those sheets of paper. He took his other hand and grabbed her other arm, pulling her to face him.

"He'll know," Tony said, then stayed silent for several moments before Kate got fed up.

"Will you stop it?" she snapped. "Let's fix this, put things back the way they were and get out of here...DiNozzo. I told you I thought it was a bad idea to do this tonight-"

"No, Kate. It was a great idea. It didn't turn out the way either of us expected but we needed to be here, to see...that," Tony said, glancing at McGee's bedroom. "Now we know who...what...Probie really is."

"What he is?" Kate said, yelling at him. "I don't know WHAT is going on in there."

"I do," Tony replied, letting go of Kate. "I saw drag queens and trannies when I worked in Baltimore and Philly. Hell, I saw them in Peoria."

"I heard about them," Kate mused.

"You've HEARD about them?" Tony said.

"I've never gone to those kinds of clubs," Kate continued. "There was the time we had our boyfriends dress in cheerleader uniforms for the Powder Puff football game...and THAT's Don't Ask, Don't Tell, DiNozzo...I don't think I ever saw a real one in Indianapolis, not even the Secret Service-"

"A real one, Kate?" Tony couldn't quite believe Kate had never seen a drag queen, or a crossdresser before. "A real what, exactly?"

"Well, uh, a tranny...not one here, in Washington...not until Voss."

Tony's expression of delight at having something else to torture Kate over turned to disgust.

The only interaction he and the team had with a transgender person turned out to be someone who murdered a friend - Special Agent Chris Pacci - and may have transitioned only to avoid prosecution. Voss took his reasons with him to the grave when he was shot by Gibbs.

Tony still hadn't forgotten the case, and not just because Pacci was senselessly murdered. Tony got a ton of ribbing over kissing Amanda Reed, a suspect in the case, before the team realized she and Voss were one and the same.

And though he knew deep down that Voss was no representative of trans people, the experience still made Tony prejudiced against them.

He hoped to avoid the subject, entirely, for as long as possible.

Now? Impossible as hell, when it came crashing into his job, and life. One of his teammates, the guy he thought was a...guy..._now? What in Hell WAS McGee?_

_Was he a perv? Another Voss in the making? _

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Tony screamed, suprising Kate. He took the typewriter, threw it against the wall - breaking it - and swept McGee's manuscript off the table, spreading it across the floor, before yelling a series of expletives.

"Tony!" Kate yelled back, grabbing him by both arms, and not letting go when he tried to pull away. Then she spoke in a lower, even, tone. "Get ahold of yourself. Now."

"Too late for that, Kate," Tony said, his head spinning. He had no idea what to think about what they had found.

"Get your gear, Agent DiNozzo," she said, evenly. "We're getting outta here, and back to my apartment."

"Gear?...get outta here...your apartment...what the hell?" Tony replied with a shout. "We're going nowhere, Kate! We're waiting this out!"

"Hell no, Tony! We're leaving! We're fixing this mess-"

"Damn right we are. We're throwing all that shit out, and getting him back to NCIS so Ducky can examine his head-"

"No, TONY! We're cleaning up, and leaving-"

Both noticed the sound of a key turning in the door, and Tony reached for his gun. grabbing it and aiming it at the door. Kate put her hand on Tony's arm to lower it, then grabbed her own gun, just as it opened.

It wasn't McGee, but the person in the doorway was a surprise.

"Tony DiNozzo, Caitlin Todd," said Abby Sciuto, before she stepped through the door way and shut the door. "What on earth are you two doing?"

Kate looked at Tony, then at Abby. "Abby-"

"Abs," Tony interjected, pointing to the bedroom. "Go see for yourself."

**NCIS Headquarters**

Assistant Director Jennifer Shepard had been on the job five weeks and already had to put out twho fires while trying to prevent a third from breaking out:

* Agent Riley McAlister's objection to her appointment as Assistant Director

* Objections across the agency to its handling of Ari Haswari, and Jenny's advocacy of bringing in Mossad officer Ziva David as an "observer"

* McGee.

That last fire hadn't yet lit - as far as she knew - but Jenny knew it could eclipse everything else if it did.

She was the first person McGee confided in besides his sister, Sarah, about his personal situation. She had in turn promised full confidentiality, and even helped him shop for clothing and cosmetics.

Jenny made arrangements with a neighbor of McGee's, to make sure if something happened at his apartment, the neighbor would call her immediately.

After Jen took the phone call, she threw on her coat and ran out of her office. She hoped she could put this fire out before anyone else found out and turned into an inferno.

She did not want the entire Navy Yard to know; nor did she want Ducky, though she suspected he'd be one of McGee's biggest supporters. Director Morrow absolutely couldn't know - even if he was grooming her for the director's chair, he wouldn't be supportive, and wouldn't defer to Jenny's wishes on the matter.

And for God's sake, Gibbs could NOT find out about this.

She forgot to keep him in mind as she rushed to her car - and failed to notice the ex-marine jump in his truck and tail her out of the parking lot.

**McGee's apartment**

Abby looked around the apartment, lectured Kate and Tony for the mess, then over their breaking in. The two agents merely pointed to the bedroom, then waited on the gothic forensics scientist to finish her search.

"Oh my god," Abby said.

"EXACTLY," Tony replied. "That's what Kate said and what I thought-"

"Is this your idea of a joke, Tony?" Abby replied, marching up to him and looking him in the eye. "You tease Timmy ALL the time-"

"What?" Tony replied. "What...no. NO!...THAT is not my doing. That's all Probie-or, apparently, ProBETTE-"

"Stop it, Tony," Abby interjected. "What on earth are you two doing here, anyway? Without Timmy even being here?"

"I should ask you the same thing, Abs," Kate said, defensively. "What are YOU doing here?"

"I was on my way back from the Teuton Death concert," Abby said. "I figured I'd see if McGee was home. I parked, and a friend who lives here says she heard people there, and arguing. She described you two to a TEE, so I decided to see for myself."

"Instead of calling the police?" Kate.

"Instead of calling GIBBS," Abby said of their boss, and Tony wiped his forehead.

"Ew...EW," Kate said. "Tony. You're sweating. Keep it up and you'll be sweating like a pig...ew."

"I wouldn't worry about pigs, KATE, I'd worry more about GIBBS," Tony said to her, then had a thought and turned to Abby. "Abs. You didn't CALL him, did you?"

"No," she said. "Not yet." She looked around the living room, and kitchenette, and saw a shattered typewriter below a sizable dent in a wall. "Did you do this, Tony? DId you break McGee's typewiter?"

"I had a moment," Tony said, half-sheepishly.

"An angry moment," Kate continued, as Tony shot her a glare.

"You two are going to buy McGee a new typewriter. And a box of cereal, and clean up his apartment," Abby said, marching to both and standing, arms crossed.

"Should we buy him a new wardrobe?" Kate shot back, then added, "because I wouldn't be caught dead in some of those outfits."

"Those outfits, those wigs, his makeup, his undies, those are all HIS business," Abby replied.

"Don't tell me he's told you about this?" Tony said. "Wait...he's told YOU because he tells YOU everything-"

"Tony, I didn't know, I swear," Abby said. "But even if I did, I wouldn't tell you or Kate, unless he wanted me to...and so what if he dresses as a woman?"

"So what if he dresses...Abs. He's a FEDERAL AGENT. Do you know the blackmail he could be subjected to if this got into the wrong hands?" Tony said.

"And what about how he'll be viewed by other agents within NCIS? Outside the agency?" Kate said. "You think Fornell will see him the same way? I know the Secret Service wouldn't."

"On some things, Abs, even the most liberal of Democrats are conservative," Tony said. "Like...that."

"What about Don't Ask Don't Tell?" Kate said.

"That's only for the military, Kate," Abby replied. "Lesbians, gays, bis, trans people can work for NCIS."

"What about working WITH the military, for God's sake-" Kate.

"Try pulling that...THAT...when interviewing a Marine Major. Or an admiral." Tony.

"GIbbs had to raise hell just to get me on the USS Philadelphia," Kate said. "The admiral thought I wasn't qualified. Despite the fact I WAS qualified. Because I was a WOMAN. If McGee went in drag-"

"Hold on!" Abby said, half-shouting. "I know crossdressers, I know drag queens, from the goth community, outside NCIS. McGee's outfits? NOT drag. He's trying to present."

"Present WHAT?" Kate.

"Present as a woman," Abby continued. "Not a queen, not some weirdo...a regular woman."

"He's presenting a damn good case to get himself fired, Abs," Tony said. She looked at Kate, who nodded.

"As much as it pains me to agree with Tony...on this, he's absolutely right, Abs," she told her. "Morrow's not going to tolerate it."

Abs took a deep breath and exhaled, then addressed them both. "You ever ask yourself WHY he chose to...to..."

"Dress like a freak?" Tony blurted, earning himself a hard shot to the bicep from Abby. "OWWWW...damnIT Abs-"

"Timmy's not a freak!" Abby said. "We don't even know what he looks like as a woman."

Tony - rubbing his arm - and Kate looked at each other.

"You don't know...he might be really hot," Abby said, smiling, trying to lighten the mood just a little.

Tony and Kate gave each other a strange look, Tony like he wanted no part of the concept.

"Pictures," Kate said. "I'll search the bedroom. Tony, fire up his computer."

Tony considered it, then found a laptop. "On it."

"Hey...hey...HEY!" Abby shouted. "Hands off his laptop!"

"It's me or Keating in CyberCrimes," Tony said. "Or you."

Abby considered that, and grabbed the laptop from Tony's hands, as Kate looked on from the bedroom's doorway, smiling.


	3. Chapter 3

**The parking lot**

Jenny pulled in, hoping the intruders had no idea who McGee was, or that they were residents of the complex who objected to him and his...lifestyle choices.

That, she could deal with. Between her sources in Metro police and on the Hill, she could make their lives miserable, and keep things relatively quiet.

When her contact told her about the perky pig-tailed goth who entered the apartment - and described Tony and Kate to a tee - Jenny's night, and week, and month got a helluva lot more complicated.

"If I put the fear of God into the three of them...and swear Dr Mallard to secrecy... maybe I can keep this from Morrow...and Jethro," Jenny said, making her way up the stairs to McGee's floor. In the distance, she saw a young couple and a man standing outside the door.

"Great. Now his complex knows," she whispered.

What she didn't suspect was that Gibbs was outside in the parking lot, having observed Jenny going into the building - and noting Tony's, Kate's and Abby's cars near Jen's, in the lot.

He looked at the building, found where McGee's apartment would be, and saw movement. He could only see shadows through the curtains, but one appeared to be a male Tony's size, and the female looked like she had pigtails.

**Heading into the lot**

McGee, in full dress, drove his car from the church, with Sarah in the passenger's seat.

"It's going to be fine, Tim," she tried to reassure him. "You look fantastic. Those lessons at the salon - and with me? Paying off, big time. "

"I"m not happy with my voice," McGee said. "I sound like Probie. Not like Tina." He hadn't referenced his female persona nearly enough to satisfy Sarah's tastes, but doing so as infrequently as he had, Sarah thought, was better than nothing.

"You're not Probie. You're Tina," Sarah said. "Lots of trans women hate their voices. Remember what Dr. Powers said: baby steps-"

"I'm not a trans woman," McGee blurted, then paused. "I'm not there...yet."

"Baby steps, honey," Sarah said, as they pulled into the complex lot.

SHe found herself violently lurching forward, as Tim's car skidded to a complete stop in moments.

"Oh my god-what's wrong with you?" Sarah shouted. "What's wrong-oh."

She saw Tim - Tina - staring like a deer in the headlights.

In front of them was Gibbs' pickup truck. With its headlights on.

And his boss in the drivers' seat.

Tim went to back up, hoping to get the hell out of there and try to ditch him. but he saw a sedan with its lights on, right behind him, the driver blowing its horn.

Then he saw Gibbs step out of his truck engine running, walk past Tim' and Sarah, and show his badge to the driver of the car behind Tim.

**The hallway, outside McGee's apartment**

Five people stood outside the door trying to figure out what the hell was going on inside.

"Dude's a frickin' tranny?" said Karl, a single. straight 26-year-old man who hated what he feared, including LGBT people. As a technician at a Ford dealership, he did minor repair work on complex residents' cars. He had changed the oil in Tim's sedan a couple of times and changed the car's spark plugs. To Karl, Tim was, no pun intended, a straight-up guy.

The wheels were already turning in Karl's head.

"I guess," said Sherry, a 28-year-old waitress at a Reston cafe living with her 29-year-old boyfriend, Curt, a programmer who worked in Towson. "Never seemed the type."

"What type?" said Curt. "I work with a guy - a woman - a person who's a transgender. She's totally cool-"

"She?" Karl snapped. "IT. That, person, as you called it, is an 'it'."

"Dude," Curt replied. "She's a she-"

"IT."

"Karl," Sherry interjected. "What's with you?"

"I can't live around no 'it'," Karl said, storming off, past Curt and Sherry and the two George Washington University students from India, looking on with interest.

The elevator down the hallway pinged, and Jenny walked out just as Karl stormed past her into the elevator. He hit the button for the ground floor, muttering 'f****** f*****' over and over again. Jenny made a mental note, and texted her friend at the complex about the angry young man.

She thought that, on the chance McGee were there, Tony and Kate would be enough to help her take down Karl, if that was necessary. For the moment, Jenny's priority was getting control of the situation in the apartment.

I AM HITTING IT, said the return text. "You mean 'on it'," Jenny whispered, as she made her way towards McGee's apartment.

The super - a pudgy, middle-aged Hispanic man wearing an Expos ballcap - had joined the four tenants standing outside the door. And before Jenny could try scaring them away with her badge, she found the super taking care of that matter for her.

"Go back to your apartments," he said. "My friend and I will handle this."

"What about Karl?" Sherry said, as Curt tried to pull her away. "He stormed outta here really pissed. Like he was headed out to the parking lot."

"Really?" the super said, but Jenny held her right hand up to silence Sherry - and pulled out her badge with her left, showing it to everyone.

"I here to handle what's going on in there," Jenny replied, nodding towards the door. "And would Karl be the young man who brushed past me as I walked off the elevator?"

"Yep," Curt said.

"I have a friend with me, who can handle Mr. Karl," Jenny said. "Thank you, Fernando, for meeting me here."

"It is the least I can do, Miss Agent Shepard," replied Fernando. They had worked together, years ago, in Germany. "I have the key."

"Please let me in," Jenny replied, "and I promise I will have Tim's unexpected guests out of there very shortly."

_I hope Tony and Kate won't make it impossible for me to keep that promise,_ she thought, as Fernando unlocked the door, and both heard a male telling someone to hide or get behind him.

**The parking lot**

"...f****** f*****... f****** f*****...I know where the f***** parks," Karl muttered, before spotting McGee's car, headlights on, at the entrance into the complex.

Karl wasted no time, getting on his motorcycle, starting it, and speeding towards McGee's car, and the truck parked in front of it.

He stopped, as another car behind McGee's pulled away, and an older man began walking back towards McGee's driver's side. And he got a look at the driver.

"Holy f****** s***...it's you!" Karl shouted, in shock, at McGee, who began to shake, even as Sarah tried to reassure him.

Karl's demeanor changed instantly, from fear to anger. "You...you're a f****** f*****. Get out of the car."

He ignored the older man, who wasn't quick enough to prevent Karl from taking a swing at the passenger side with a stick. He missed the window entirely, but hit the roof hard with the stick, causing Sarah to scream in reaction, and McGee to instinctively reach for his weapon.

"Open the door you queer **********," Karl said, ignoring the older man now running towards him, and the sound of a second motorcycle screeching to a stop just three feet away.

As he swung the stick a second time, he was hit from behind and tackled to the ground by a woman who had jumped from the cycle.

Gibbs walked around the car, up to the young woman who now had Karl in a choke hold. Though she was outweighed by nearly 100 pounds, he wasn't going anywhere.

"Krav Maga, Officer?" Gibbs said, referring to the Israeli martial arts discipline. He showed his NCIS badge.

"Yes," the young woman replied, showing her identification while keeping Karl immobilized.

"You authorized to operate in the U.S., Officer?"

"On a very limited basis," she said. "I cannot use firearms-"

"Hey! Get this bitch off me!" Karl yelled, and Gibbs kneeled down and leaned in to get a close look at him, face to face.

"You're lucky she tackled you," he growled, "and didn't shoot you."

"F*** off," Karl spat. Gibbs leaned in real close and glared at Karl.

"You're lucky I'm not in a lousy mood," he said, evenly, "and that I got more important things to worry about."

He handed the woman a pair of handcuffs. "Cuff him, wait till I'm done, then we'll ride back to NCIS."

"You are not calling the police?"

"Punk threatened a federal agent," Gibbs said, saying the last two words loudly for emphasis. "Got questions for him...meantime, you have a seat...relax."

"If that is what you want, agent Gibbs," she said, sitting down on his backside, as he laid face down on the ground, hands cuffed and feet bound with a plastic tie.

**McGee's apartment**

Jenny made Tony, Kate and Abby explain everything, before explaining to them what the consequences of their actions would be - within her authority as assistant director, and regardless of what Gibbs thought.

She could, and did, order them to clean up their mess, and that the cost of the typewriter - repair or replacement - would come out of Tony's paycheck.

She reminded them that Don't Ask, Don't Tell applied to the military, NOT to NCIS, and that McGee, as either gender, was a valued agent within the agency.

She addressed Tony and Kate's points to Abby, one by one. She had to admit their validity, but emphasized what is doesn't mean it is right.

When Tony and Kate brought up Morrow, Jenny replied that Morrow may not be "as conservative as you think", and hinted at further policy changes coming in the near future.

"What, you going to become director?" Kate asked her; Jenny raised her eyebrows, and smiled. Then she noticed the laptop, and frowned.

"If there are circumstances in which you have the right to violateMcGee's privacy, through an examination of a computer, or bedroom LOOKING FOR PICTURES - they're not here," Jenny said. "That matter, we WILL discuss at the Navy Yard."

"Gibbs won't put up with it," Tony blurted. "He'll have our back-"

"Tony!" Abby said, as Kate rolled her eyes. "Our back?"

"Yeah!" he said. "We're - we - we're in-"

"A heap of trouble, DiNozzo," Kate said. "This was YOUR idea."

"YOU were the one who went through his bedroom-"

Jenny whistled loudly to shut them both up. She was in no mood for argument.

It didn't work. Tony and Kate bickered, while Abby tried to but in and looked flustered about having to take sides.

Jenny rubbed a hand through her hair, sighed, and announced she was going to call the director directly.

THAT shut the trio up.


	4. Chapter 4

**The parking lot**

While Sarah stood next to the sitting officer and a very uncomfortable Karl (whose discomfort increased for each snide comment he made to Sarah, the officer or about McGee), Gibbs and McGee sat in his car.

Having pulled the car (and Gibbs his truck) into a parking space, both men sat in silence for a couple of minutes, too long for Gibbs' comfort.

"You gonna tell me what's goin' on, McGee?"

The way the special agent in charge asked the question shocked McGee into momentary silence.

It wasn't the normal brusque manner in which Gibbs spoke to the probationary agent - it was more gentle, with genuine concern, like a father to a child.

A father and daughter.

McGee opened up about everything, including beginning dressing at an early age; confiding in his sister; being confronted by his parents, and the emotional rejection by his father, a U.S. Navy Admiral.

He went into detail how he worked through his gender dysphoria while going through FLET-C, then working in Norfolk, and after joining Gibbs' team. How his response to everyone on the team was partly informed by his inner struggle, between being the macho, aggressive agent he perceived DiNozzo (and Gibbs) wanted him to be and the woman he perceived himself as becoming.

"You hang out with Abby a lot," Gibbs said, of McGee and Abby's friendship. "Haven't said anything - until now - but I thought you two were bending Rule 12."

"We did more, boss, broke it - quietly as possible," said Tina/Tim.

"Your interest sexual?"

"More. I liked - like - I like her as a person, and was attracted to her," McGee admitted. "Still am."

"Thought you might be into guys, McGee," Gibbs said, "if you're looking like that."

McGee looked forlorn. "Boss-"

Gibbs saw his agent's reaction, and immediately regretted how he put it - but wasn't sure how else he could've put it. "Didn't mean to insult you, McGee," he said. "Thought if you were..."

"Transgender. I am transgender, Boss." McGee, thought speaking in his female voice, said it with conviction, and was not backing down as he had many times before with Gibbs and Tony.

_They sure as hell didn't train us for this in the Marine Corps,_ Gibbs thought.

"So you like girls?" Gibbs said.

"Yes," McGee said. "Sexual orientation and gender identity are completely independent. Neither are dependent on the other. In my case, whatever gender I present as, has nothing to do with who I like or love. "

Gibbs didn't want to upset his agent any more than he already had - McGee was frightened when Gibbs knocked on the car door, and calmed down only on how Gibbs phrased his opening question. He couldn't help but think about the Voss case, though, and Voss/Reed's interest in DiNozzo.

McGee addressed it for him.

"This isn't like Voss," the junior agent explained. "Whatever was going on with him sexually, was there long before he killed Pacci, and transitioned to avoid prosecution."

"Which is what it was," Gibbs said. "Bastard killed one of our own and tried to stay out of jail. Almost took Tony out, too."

"But he didn't," McGee said. "And I'm calling Voss a 'he'. Changing gender to stay out of jail and avoid being held accountable for murder doesn't count as a reason for transitioning in my book."

Gibbs smiled. The young agent had picked up a thing or two.

"Now that we've clarified that you and everyone like you isn't at all like that bastard, just want to make sure I understand somethin' else," Gibbs said. "Even if THIS" - pointing to McGee's wig, and his knee high leather boots - "had never happened. I'd still be having a conversation with you about Rule 12 and Abby."

"Yes, Boss," McGee said, smiling for a few moments, before realizing what the older man had said. The smile froze into place, but McGee's eyes betrayed a fear over the realization that Gibbs' No. 1 rule had been broken, quietly or not, and there WOULD be consequences-

_SLAP!_

The wig covering McGee's buzz-cut natural hair didn't lessen the impact of Gibbs' head slap.

"I'm not gonna kill ya, McGee," Gibbs said. "What I said was we'd have a conversation."

"You're gonna fire me aren't you?" McGee replied, not believing that specifically, but thinking some kind of punishment was in order.

"Not gonna fire ya, McGee...even if was you and DiNozzo," the older man said, with a smirk.

McGee's mouth flew open, in horror.

"God NO!" McGee said, before blurting "besides, if he breaks Rule 12 with anybody, it's gonna be with Kate."

Gibbs looked back at McGee.

"Better her than one of my ex-wives," Gibbs replied, as he saw a familiar car pull up behind them.

Ducky quickly got out of the Morgan, and made his way to McGee's car, even as Gibbs put his hand on the younger agent's shoulder.

Gibbs rolled down his window. "Oh my," Ducky said. "Agent McGee...what would you like me to call you?"

"Tina," she said, while wondering if Assistant Director Shepard had told him about this, or if Ducky was being polite.

"Ah, Tina," Ducky continued, speaking in a calming manner, while confirming that Jenny had confided in him. "We'll have much to discuss, at the Navy Yard. What you are doing is ground breaking, and opening doors for other men and women in your situation to serve their country in the intelligence community. As a matter of fact, I have friends and acquaintances on both sides of the pond who know transgender men and women in their work and personal lives, including a fellow at Oxford-"

"Duck," Gibbs interjected, nodding towards the foreign female agent sitting on top of McGee's would be attacker. "Need to get him back to the Yard. Interrogation."

"Ah, about that, Jethro," Ducky replied. While Sarah went back to Tina's car to sit with her, the two men discussed the situation.

"...the assistant director is in the apartment, with Anthony, Caitlin and Abigail," the doctor said. "Jethro. This woman isn't a fourth ex-wife, is she?"

Gibbs chucked. "Nope, and I never expected her to be my boss, either...stay here, with...with Tina."

Not something Gibbs ever expected to say about his newest field agent. But not a bad thing, either.

"You're going up there?" Ducky said, as Gibbs nodded. "What about that brute?"

Gibbs nodded towards the young officer sitting on Karl, who had fallen asleep. "Nothing to be worried about." He began walking towards the complex.

"I assume you're going to have words with the others?" Ducky said.

"After I tell TIna," Gibbs said; his explanation informed Tina what was going on, and calmed her down somewhat (while Sarah was pissed off). Calming Tina down completely would be Ducky's job.

"I'm screwed," Tina said.

"You are most definitely not screwed, young lady," replied Ducky from the back seat. "Jethro and Jennifer will be good advocates for you, and remind the others of the quality person you are."

Tina paused for a moment to reflect on the compliment.

"Thanks, Ducky."

"It is my pleasure, dear."

Then McGee had an unpleasant thought, and considered getting out of the car herself to run to the apartment.

"Gibbs is gonna kill them."

Ducky chuckled. "No, my dear Tina, he is not going to 'kill them'. Not only does it break regulations, Jethro also said to tell you you're not ready yet to do Tony and Kate's jobs on top of your own."

McGee allowed herself to laugh, then abruptly stopped after hearing herself.

"What's wrong, Tina?" Ducky asked.

"Tina?" said Sarah.

"Nothing...nothing at all," McGee said. Sarah reached over and lifted Tina's chin.

"Liar."

"Right," McGee admitted. "My voice...more masculine than I want."

"Ah," Ducky said. "A colleague who works with transgender patients, a therapist, once told me about the transgender person's voice. The voice is a muscle, and the muscle is set more or less at puberty. So for patients who decide to transition after puberty, the voice has to be more or less trained, the patient learning to speak in a higher pitch. And, my colleague also told me that, in general conversation, the longer someone speaks the lower their pitch tends to go.

"Although my colleague did not raise the issue of stress and fatigue - and I do sense that this episode, including Agent Gibbs' unexpected appearance and that brute outside, have caused you stress - I would venture to say that the rather abrupt events of the past hour could have significantly influenced your voice presentation to a negative degree...so do not worry, my dear. You appear to be in good health, and you may rest assured that you are among friends." Ducky smiled at Sarah. "We, and Director Shepard, and Jethro - and Tony, Kate and Abby - will fully support you."

**The apartment**

The hallway was long empty, Gibbs' glare having scared off any curiosity seekers, but those in the adjacent apartments to McGee's couldn't help but hear the conversation inside.

Abby was apologetic as soon as Gibbs walked through the door, and at first was about to receive her first-ever head slap.

Then Kate and Tony - in defense of Abby - stepped forward and told the truth. From Tony's plan to break into McGee's apartment to snoop around, to Kate going through all of McGee's clothing and cosmetics, to Tony breaking the typewriter.

That led to Kate's first-ever head slap.

"That was a head tap, Boss," Tony whined.

_**SLAP!**_

Tony got his 1,000th head slap in his NCIS career.

Unlike he usually did, he didn't apologize to Gibbs for his latest mishap.

"Assistant Director Shepard has agreed for me to keep this in-house," Gibbs said. "You'll both pay for the damages. And you'll get to keep working for me."

"That's it?" Kate said. "You won't fire us?"

"He's not gonna fire us, Kate-"

_**SLAP!**_

Gibbs paused a couple of beats.

"I wouldn't worry about your job - yet - DiNozzo," Gibbs said. "I'd worry about mending fences with your teammate."

Tony, having looked his boss right in the eye from the time he walked into the apartment, looked away. He walked away from the laptop he had talked Abby into hacking into, towards the kitchen.

Gibbs matched his every step, and they ended up in front of the refrigerator. Tony opened the door, looking for a soda, or beer, or something cold; Gibbs grabbed his arm, moved it out of the way, and shut the door.

"Don't have the right."

"What?" Tony countered, as Jenny stood in the doorway between the kitchen and living room, holding Kate and Abby at bay.

"You break into McGee's apartment, break her typewriter, go through her belongings as a joke," Gibbs said, putting his hand on the fridge door. "You don't have the right to take something out of the fridge. That's for friends and guests."

"Friends? Guests?" Tony yelled. "Come ON! Probie's a teammate, and a friend. Hell, I may be the only friend he's got."

"She, DiNozzo. And you're not the only friend-"

"SHE?" Tony screamed. "She?...Are you serious?"

Jenny flew in between Tony and Gibbs. "Agent DiNozzo. You will get control of your emotions NOW or I will suspend you indefinitely and what I write will NOT look good on your record, neither for continued employment and potential advancement within this agency, NOR for outside employment with another federal agency NOR civilian police should you choose to run instead of facing this obstacle."

Jenny's look suggested she could go punch for punch, round for round with the former Baltimore, Philadelphia and Peoria detective, and if the old man couldn't take him down, she might.

"Fine," Tony said, holding his hands up in surrender. "I'll go along with Probie's...hobby. As long as I KNOW he's not like Voss. I suppose I can work with...Probie...I'm sure he'll get a cushy desk job out of this-"

"McGee is and will continue to be a full-time field agent," Gibbs interjected. "As Agent Todd can attest" - he looked at Kate - "I'll do what I have to for my agents to be able to do their jobs. And McGee will continue to do. HER. Job."

"You keep calling him 'her', 'she'," Tony said. "You telling me you're buying into that bullshit?"

"Not gonna pretend I completely understand it, Tony," Gibbs said. "But I've seen a lot of bastards wearing the uniform of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Men whose actions disrespected good, honest men, and women, serving their country. Think I'm gonna judged the good ones by the bastards?"

"Hell no," Tony said. "I wouldn't."

"Then don't judge someone like McGee by a bastard like Voss."

Tony paused a beat. Kate stepped forward.

"Tony, I'm from the Midwest. We're Republicans. Conservative. Family-friendly. Not fundamentalist, but when we saw drag queens, transvest-TRANS people, as the assistant director put it-we saw them through that Midwest mindset, and from whatever we saw on one of those religious TV shows or on Jerry Springer," Kate said. "Just meeting a gay person, a man who acted like a man, a woman like a woman, was a break through for me. I thought by accepting them I was open minded...but learning about McGee...that blew my mind."

"Blew my mind too, Kate," Tony said. "So you're telling me you're buying into this too?"

"I don't understand it," she said, "but I'm willing to try...if Gibbs is okay with it, if Abby's okay, if the assistant director - who I just met today - is okay...and they tell me McGee's the same person I've known him - her - herm?"

"Her or she is fine," Jenny interjected, as Abby chuckled. Tony wasn't laughing.

"-her to be, then I can handle it," Kate said. "And I know you want to do the right thing, Tony."

"Do you, now," Tony said, throwing one of Kate's pet sayings at her. "And what is that?"

"To do right by your team and teammates," Kate said. "If you really thought McGee was another Voss, you'd be hunting him down, you'd have dragged me out of here long ago. "

"Kate's right, DiNozzo," Gibbs said. "There's a lot we don't understand, but we know McGee. And she's a part of the team. She hasn't done a thing to jeopardize that."

"She."

"That's right, DiNozzo, She."

"What about when we have a case on a ship, or a base, where most of these men and women in uniform you just told me about are going to have a problem?" Tony shot back. "What about others at the Navy Yard? Fornell? NCIS outside DC - don't you know a guy in New Orleans?"

"We'll deal with it if it's an issue," Gibbs said.

"When it's an issue."

"We'll tell them about McGee, the type of person and agent she is," Gibbs said. "Tomorrow morning. You'll start in accounting. Tell the girls that McGee's not gay, what kind of field agent and person she is."

"YOU WANT WHAT?" Tony screamed. "You have GOT to be kidding."

"Do I LOOK like I'm joking, DiNozzo?" Gibbs said, right in Tony's face. DiNozzo wilted, just a hair.

"No boss," Tony said. "We're calling McGee a she, for real?"

"McGee IS a female, is becoming a female," Gibbs said. "And a part of our team."

Tony looked over at Jenny. "What's her first name?"

"Her first name is Tina," Jenny said, smiling. "And she's one of our finest young field agents, just like you and Agent Todd."

Kate and Abby smiled.

"Guess I got some explaining to do," Tony said to Gibbs.

"And apologizing," Gibbs replied. "You and Kate, get to work. Clean this up. Then go to the Navy Yard. Got a case."

"A case?" Kate said.

"Neighbor tried to assault McGee outside just now." Gibbs.

"McGee's OUTSIDE?" Tony and Kate yelled in unison.

"Is he-no - is SHE - is SHE okay?" Abby said.

"She's fine," Gibbs said. "her sister's with her, so is Ducky. And an officer friend of the assistant director's."

Jenny smiled. "Someone you may be getting to know very soon."

Gibbs stepped away from Tony, excused himself - to Tony and Kate's surprise - and walked towards the door. "Lock up when you're done, and make sure it's presentable. Gotta find her a new place for her to live."


	5. Chapter 5

_**The next morning**_

_Tony stepped off the elevator, not his usual self. He walked to his desk, put his gear on the floor, and switched on his PC, aware only of Kate's presence._

_"Talk to your girlfriends in accounting yet?" Kate said, sweetly._

_"Yes, Kate, I talked to my 'girlfriends in accounting'," Tony sniped. "Got my ass chewed out. And the girls wanted to meet Tina...the tall blonde broke our date."_

_"Awwww," Kate said, sarcastically. "I wonder why."_

_"Don't," Tony said. "She called me a homophobic, transphobic pig-" Tony noticed the other two people in the bullpen, one sitting at McGee's desk._

_A woman, who looked like McGee's sister, if he had a twin._

_That's Tina,Tony thought._

_"Tony?" Tina said, getting up and walking straight to Tony's desk, in as feminine of a manner as any woman Tony ever met. Tina sat at the edge of Tony's desk, clasped her hands, and smiled nervously._

_"Probie," Tony said. "We, uh, we got a lot to talk about."_

_"Yes we do, Tony."_

_"Don't worry about me...Gibbs put the fear of God into me last night...haven't slept. After we brought your crazy neighbor in and Gibbs tore him a new one in interrogation, Boss had me go to his house. Four in the morning. Watched the old man sand his boat while he talked to me about this...about you."_

_Tina remained silent._

_"I don't get it...and you know the deal with Voss. How that freaked me out...but I know you." Tony said, with as much sincerity as he could muster. "And as long as you're the same good person I've known you to be, with the same potential to be a great agent...I can accept who you're becoming...and i promise I won't hit on you."_

_Tina smiled. "Somehow, Tony, I'm not worried about that," Tina said. "And thanks...maybe we can talk over coffee, at lunch?"_

_"Not gonna have time for lunch," said Gibbs, coming around the corner as he often did. "Probably do Chinese for dinner. Got a case. Dead sailor, Rock Creek Park."_

_"How many cases we've had there, Gibbs," asked Kate. "And is our new friend coming with us?"_

_"She's not gonna babysit the bullpen," Gibbs said. He glanced at the other woman whom Tony had missed until now. "You comin' Officer David?"_

_"Yes," said an athletic, slender woman in her early 20s, who caught Tony's eye._

_"Who are you?" Tony said, intrigued. "Weren't you the girl-"_

_"Sitting on the suspect last night?" she replied, sticking out her hand for a handshake. "Officer Ziva David, Mossad."_

_"Mossad?" Tony said, and he forgot about Tina McGee._

_Tina and Kate trailed Tony and Ziva as the four headed to the elevator._

_"Like I said, Tina," Kate said, "you won't have to worry about Tony hitting on you. He's preoccupied."_

_"I'm not waiting all day," Gibbs shouted. "Door's closing in five seconds."_

_"Sorry Boss!" said Kate, Tony, and Tina, as they and Officer Ziva headed to the elevator._

_**THE END**_

And then Tina woke up.

What a dream ending...too bad she lived in the real world.

When she left the Navy Yard after 3:30, Gibbs was still yelling at Karl, and DiNozzo refused to talk to him in the interrogation booth. Jenny drove her home personally, telling her she had assigned agents to patrol the parking lot and another to patrol the hallway outside the apartment door.

She jumped out of bed, headed towards the kitchen, glanced briefly at the dent in the wall caused by the typewriter, then went to the cupboard for some coffee.

After getting the coffee started, she took out a bowl, then the unopened box of cereal, and went to open the fridge when her cell phone rang.

Great, she thought, as she picked it up off the counter, then looked at the number of the party calling in. Gibbs.

"McGee."

"Gibbs. Tim-Tina...you doin' alright?"

"Yeah. Considering I had two hours of sleep, and what happened last night, and that you have two agents out in the parking lot-"

"One in the hallway, McGee."

"And one in the hallway...I'm doing great."

"Take today off."

"Today? Off?"

"Do I have to repeat myself, McGee?"

"No sir!" she said, and thought a day off might suit her just fine. Take a day off to compress, call Sarah, check in with HR, figure out how exactly to deal with Tony and Kate and...Abby... and-

"You there, McGee?" said Gibbs, more like a father trying to get the attention of a kid who had been through a traumatic experience the night before, and less like the impatient bastard McGee had known him as.

"Yes, Boss," she replied. "No, Boss. I want to come in."

"McGee. Stay home."

"I don't want to, Boss. I...I...I need to be at work."

Gibbs paused a beat, and spoke before McGee could continue. "If you need another day to regroup. It's yours."

McGee then paused a couple of beats, then answered: "Boss, I need to be there. I need to face Tony, Kate, Abby. The director himself. Need to deal with HR...and as TIM McGee."

"Thought you would...McGee."

"I know without them telling me, HR isn't going to want me showing up as female, without discussion, and it would cause distraction that wouldn't do the team any good," McGee said. "I'll be there no later than 7."

"Good," Gibbs said. "We'll talk...and McGee? When you and DiNozzo talk?"

"Er...yeah?"

"Go a little easy on him. You had two hours of sleep. He hasn't had any. He's on his fourth cup of coffee." Then Gibbs hung up. McGee wondered what that meant, then figured it could wait until later.

**Navy Yard**

**NCIS Headquarters**

**The bullpen**

**6:45 a.m.**

McGee - now presenting as Tim - was busy multitasking, working on a cold case and a side project Gibbs asked him to do for Ducky, and writing his letter to HR declaring his intent to transition.

He noticed a distinct smell of black coffee, and wondered if Gibbs had just snuck in.

"Thanks, Boss," he said, looking up to see a slightly disheveled DiNozzo. Tim sniffed the air, and smelled a strong odor of black coffee mixed with sawdust; he looked closer at Tony's hair, and saw some sawdust mixed in his hair.

"Boss had me come to his basement for a 'debriefing'," Tony began, not looking angry, just tired and a little unsure of himself.

"Tony? You okay?" Tim said, leaping up to put a hand on Tony's arm in support, then freezing, wondering if came across too fem and offended Tony.

DiNozzo didn't seem to notice that. "Don't worry, Probie. Boss is on your side."

McGee gently sat back down in his seat, crossing his feet - he was still too damn heavy to properly cross his legs, despite doubling down on those jazzercise videos Sarah suggested he buy off Amazon - and sat in a more feminine pose than he allowed himself in public.

"Tony, this isn't about sides-"

"Yeah, I know, Probie. This is about you."

"Do you, Tony?" McGee said, still seated, but speaking more pointedly. "I've lived with this for years. I've hid it for years."

"Oh yeah, at least as long as we've worked together," Tony said, matter of fact.

"I had to hide it...especially after Voss," Tim said, evenly, then looked at Tony, who didn't react angrily to hearing the reference to Pacci's murderer. "I thought you would confuse me...with him."

"Which I did, Probie...I was an ass."

"Yeah," McGee said, standing up, more gracefully than DiNozzo had ever remembered the overweight agent - had Probie lost a few pounds? "Yeah you were. You broke into my apartment. Shattered my typewriter. Went through my things."

"And brought Kate into it," Tony said.

"That, too," McGee continued. "I'm not going to HR on THIS."

"Thanks," Tony said, then looked out the windows near his and Kate's desks overlooking Washington. "You know, Probie. You could have come to me about this."

"Really? Given your pranks?"

Tony leaned on McGee's desk, and looked his fellow agent in the eyes. "Yeah. Given everything. Even Voss. We're teammates, McGee. We support one another."

"And I would have, Tony," McGee said, evenly and calmly, not backing down. "In the right time."

"Which was from the beginning, McGee," Tony said. "I had to find out...the way I did."

"By breaking into my apartment?"

"Not a good thing, I'll admit," said DiNozzo. "Better me than that crazy ass neighbor of yours - or a psycho like Ari."

McGee paused. "You're not trying to justify what you did."

"Hell no," Tony said. "But better the way it did, than something worse-"

"Well, I sure as hell didn't want it to get out to the team the way it did," McGee said, as Kate walked off the elevator. McGee stepped to the front of his desk, looking Tony in the eye. "You disrespected me. You've disrespected me all along-"

"Disrespected you?" Tony shot back. "I tried to build you up."

"Build me up?" McGee said, his voice getting louder. Kate dropped her gear behind her desk and hurried towards the two men.

"Yeah, Probie. Build you up."

"Tear me down is more like it."

"Bullshit."

"What you did was disrespectful and insulting-"

Kate wedged her way between the men hoping to stop a fight before it began. "HEY!" she yelled. "DiNozzo. McGee. Stop it NOW."

McGee backed up just a foot. He didn't want to hit Kate - nor did he want to hit Tony. But he would give her a piece of his mind.

"Stop what, Kate?" McGee said. "Telling Tony - telling YOU - you both were disrespectful to me for breaking into my apartment, going through my things, tearing up my property, not even having the courtesy to call me and ask me about it?"

Kate held her hands up. "Tim, we were wrong. I apologized last night and I'll apologize as many times as I have to-"

"Not good enough, Agent Todd...and Agent DiNozzo," McGee said, growing more indignant by the moment. "You think I'm a joke, with the hazing, the super glue on my keyboard, getting Gibbs' coffee wrong-"

"You're pissed off about that?" Tony yelled.

"About a LOT of things!" McGee screamed back. "You want me to 'trust you'? The only thing I can trust you with is to tease me and play your pranks. You honestly think I was going to come to you with something as big as what I'm living with right now?"

Kate looked down, then back at Tony. "He-she-McGee's right, Tony," Kate said, sheepishly, then turned to McGee. "You're right...I don't blame you a bit-"

"Well I do," Tony said.

"Stop yelling at her, Tony."

"Her...HER? Look at HIM...same pudgy Probie we've known all along...let him dress up as 'herself' and I'll call him 'her'"

"You will call me whatever I wish you to, Tony," McGee said, and Kate noticed a slightly more feminine, if still stern, measure to McGee's voice. "Probie is acceptable. Him or he when I present as male is acceptable. She or her when I present as female - which is going to become permanent sooner than you may like - is acceptable."

"Fine, fine," Tony said, as Kate put herself between the two. "You're a he, now?"

"At the moment."

"What are you, really... 'Probie'? Who are you?"

McGee paused a few beats, looked to the left, then straight at Tony and Kate and launched into the super-short answer he expected to give the entire team at a later date.

"I'm Tina McGee. I was born with male genitalia, but have always considered myself female, as far back as I remember. I explored that at a child, then was caught by my parents. My father, a U.S. Navy Admiral, threatened to put me on the street if I persisted. Yelled at me, told me it would destroy his career to have a son acting 'this way'. So I put on the acting job of my life to appease them both. I even went to a crackpot therapist who my father paid a lot of money to tell him I had gotten right with Jesus and was cured of my so-called problem. Only it didn't go away. Years and years I buried this under layers of conservatism and propriety. Tim the NCIS Agent disappointed him because he wanted me to go into the Navy, but he could live with Tim the male, heterosexual NCIS Agent. When I went to him and told him I was going to transition into Tina and try to keep my NCIS career, he looked away. Said I would get my inheritance, and wished me luck and said I could see myself out."

McGee paused, looking away, barely noticing Gibbs standing next to Kate's desk.

"Shit," Tony said.

"Oh God," Kate replied. "Tin...Tim...Tina...TINA. I don't blame you for distrusting us, but believe me, you can-"

"My mother told me supported me silently, but had to stand with my father publicly, whatever that means," McGee continued. "They let Sarah support me, but only because she was so adamant about it. They'll call her, talk to her, treat her like a child. Me? I'm dead to them."

"Probie, I'm sorry, anything I can do," Tony said.

"Dad and Mom turning on me, hurt so much...thinking of how you both treated me, how conservative Gibbs was," McGee said. "I only trusted Abby, because we already were sleeping together...and she could tell what was going on with me. She called me out on it, too...we discussed it, a lot...she accepted me...the assistant director caught us talking about...it...one night, her first week on the job. After we cleared Agent Fornell...she and I talked in her office while you two were at lunch. I told her everything, and came up with a plan to fully transition."

"When were you going to tell us?" Kate said.

"After talking with HR a few weeks from now," McGee said. "Jenny was going to dictate how this went, not them...then last night happened."

McGee looked at Tony and Kate, who were staring at something - or someone - behind him.

"Tony? Kate?"

"They're speechless, McGee," said Gibbs, walking up next to McGee, who didn't feel startled like he normally did when Gibbs appeared out of thin air. "You said a lot."

"They think I could've said it sooner," McGee said, looking at Kate and Tony.

"Not anymore," Kate said.

"Still do," Tony replied.

"McGee did the right thing, and his and Assistant Director Shepard's plan was sound," Gibbs said, moving in between McGee and Kate and Tony. "Now we're at the part of the plan where McGee's told us what's going to happen, and we respond to that."

"And how is that, Boss?" Tony said.

"As a team," Gibbs said. "Director has his own opinions on the matter, but he supports McGee. That includes to any agents who object within the agency, and anyone outside of it. Abby's supportive, so is Duck, and he tells me Palmer's on board."

"That's well and good, Gibbs, but the questions I raised to Abby, to Director Shepard, to YOU are still there," Tony said. "What in hell happens when some Marine refuses to talk because of a person he perceives to be a man pretending to be a woman?"

"Same thing that happens when he refuses to talk to an agent because that agent sleeps with someone of their own gender. Same thing that happens when he refuses to talk to an agent, period," Gibbs said.

"So you're saying we get behind McGee?" Tony asked.

"Yep. All in, or out."

"You know we're in," Tony and Kate said, in unison, somewhat surprising McGee.

"So all of a sudden you're supportive?" McGee said.

"Yeah, all of a sudden," Tony said. "I still don't understand half of it-"

"-neither do I," Kate said.

"-but I know you, Probie, or I think I still do," Tony said. "Biggest thing is you're not a bastard like Voss. Voss was the outlier. This...thing you're dealing with, doesn't change the good person you are."

"I agree," Kate said. "We tease you mercilessly, I'll admit. I never thought you were a bad person. Never thought you weren't capable of being a great agent."

Their words shocked McGee, who turned away, and walked to the window.

"Is he...she...McGee crying?" Tony said.

Kate very lightly elbowed Tony, to shut him up, then turned to Gibbs. "How did you become so...supportive. Understanding. All of a sudden," she said. "I know liberal Democrats who couldn't handle this. You may be the most conservative guy I know."

Gibbs took a breath.

"Called the Admiral, on my way in," Gibbs said. "Said he was too busy for a face to face but he'd talk to me on the phone. So I told him who I wanted to talk about. He heard me out, told me he had a daughter, an only child. Then ended the call...the man rejected his daughter, Kate."

"So you really do think McGee's a she?" asked Tony.

"McGee is who she is, Tony," Gibbs said. "And I know what it's like to lose a daughter...I'll be damned if I lose another one."

Gibbs let that hang in the air. It would be a while before Kate and Tony finally learned the sad backstory surrounding his lost daughter.

They'd learn much sooner what he meant by McGee - and both of them, and Abby, and even Palmer and Officer David - being his kids. And what kind of family they would become, as dysfunctional as it was, and as many threats and obstacles as they'd face in the coming years.

**THE END**


End file.
